VKurtB

You have a list? Cool!

I do wish more people would agree to be more actively aggressive with these sites and listings. It really hurts the hobby.

There's nothing to be seen here, sorry. Yes, I see the 'E' in "ONE". Classic strike doubling.

Hopefully all that Northern Alabama humidity will slow down my "drying up". 

Thassit! Keep a coupla things in mind. This was August of 2011, just days before the bubble burst on gold. I called the top. Also, the last nine years have beaten the bejabbers out of me. I no longer look like that. I look like my avatar.

This Saturday, the 19th, yet another great "in person only", no Internet bidding, coin and note auction in south-central Pennsylvania. Actually, it's one of two, but the one I'm going to is nothing short of great. 53 classic U.S. gold pieces, an ANACS small slab XF45 1795 Flowing Hair dollar, a raw 1798 Bust Dollar, a 1799/98 Bust Dollar (13 star) in a Capital Plastics Holder with box, and an 1801 Bust Dollar.
Those aren't my specialty areas, but in mine, I have identified 25 potential "targets", and I'm not halfway through the sheets yet. At the likely prices, if and when I snag 3 or 4 lots, my budget will have been spent. 436 lots total, all classic U.S. series. Very little modern except some gold not included among the 53. There's a lot of mundane condition in there, but there are some nicer pieces interspersed. This is so not unusual in south central Pennsylvania. In fact, there's another great coin sale going on right now here, which I can't get to due to other obligations. You have to get to know the auctioneers, and who has an "optimistic eye" on his grading, but once you put that work in, this place is coin nirvana.
Alabama needs to step up its game to keep me happy there.

Oh yay. Know why they all look the same? Guess. Because it’s 99.9999% certain they ARE all the same, all Large Date. 

Pardon me if I remain skeptical. 

I think you'll find that a good many U.S. gold coins not melted in the 1930's spent considerable time "across the pond". Most of what is now here, came back from overseas. Regarding being prepared, sometimes I run into things I never would expect to see and I have to walk away if I don't have access to my notes. On this occasion, I had an iPad full of notes.

Courtesy of the dumbest member of Congress, possibly in the history of the Republic. Rep. Henry C. "Hank" Johnson Jr. of the Great State of Georgia. And remember, that includes even Maxine Waters.

Some serious geologists maintain ALL accessible gold came from meteoric bombardment rather recently, in epochal terms. More could still arrive. …   …   ... INCOMING!
They also posit that there's enough gold in the earth's interior core to flood the entire surface with it to a depth of about 8-9 inches.

For all we know, the Third Circuit might issue a stay on the ruling, but they haven't so far. So Pennsylvanians, enjoy your larger sized gatherings this weekend if you have the need. It may not last. I feel a sudden need to take in a high school football game. And a kickbutt coin auction.

That "strikes" me as a good story.

Pictures this loaded with digital sharpening and jpeg interpolation artifacting are essentially useless here.

There are two camps on the "with parentheses" (S), (W), and (P) ASE's. Some people believe they are a legitimate variety and include them in a "Full Set". Other people believe that a non-mintmarked ASE is all the same thing because they cannot be discerned outside the slab, and the whole thing is BS (bullsnot). I am in the second camp. If there's no mintmark there, it's not a S, W, or anything else.

Not just "no", he....

Not just "no", he....

I agree with the above, but I believe considerable time in contact with both coins and a corrosive liquid. I don't think pressure alone explains this.

Any chance we could swap? I have a feeling that in a few months, being an ex-pat will be looking pretty good.

Balmoral Castle
Oct. 7, 1856
 
Sir,
I am commanded by
His Royal Highness Prince
Albert to acknowledge the receipt of  

your note of the 4th - [not sure] - with 
the accompanying very handsome
[not sure] of the memorials of James Watt
But then again, I’m just a “troll”, according to Larry and Jason, and they are Honourable men. Pffft.
 

Holy Frijoles, Skip. Your popularity sure is taking a beating over this thread on CoinTalk. And they call me the troll. /eye roll

There are two camps on the "with parentheses" (S), (W), and (P) ASE's. Some people believe they are a legitimate variety and include them in a "Full Set". Other people believe that a non-mintmarked ASE is all the same thing because they cannot be discerned outside the slab, and the whole thing is BS (bullsnot). I am in the second camp. If there's no mintmark there, it's not a S, W, or anything else.

Oh I dunno, I still have fans over there. I get it that you are not one them, Larry, and that's quite okay with me. Look Larry, I actually do "feel for" folks like you, and @Insider, and @physics-fan3.14, and @RWB, and @GDJMSP over at CoinTalk, and a handful of others here and there. I know what it feels like when a beloved activity that you've sunk decades into becoming among the best at the practices of that used to be important, it then crushes your heart and it walks away from making or keeping you relevant. While you and those others were becoming among the best at grading the way it used to be, and maybe getting paid to do it, I was becoming one of the top people in the old-school photographic industry, and I was paid handsomely to do that. No more. The digital revolution, slowly at first and then all of a sudden, made my expertise nearly "irrelevant" in the marketplace. Knowing emulsions' characteristics gave way to megapixels and pixel patterns, and sharpening algorithms, and jpeg compression artifacts, and tons of other stuff I almost resent. But I couldn't stop that train any more than you 5 gentlemen I've named above can stop the march to TPGS-style "commercial" or "market" grading. The old ways are officially dead, and you can get with it, or get run over BY it. You still get to choose. I didn't.
 
So I did what a lot of people do when the field they were in "forever" goes "breasts up" and floats, and you're still in your 50's - I went into government service.

"Lemme tell ya', them guys ain't dumb..."

And a cast of thou.... okay, several.